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Category Archives: Minneapolis
PARTY THIS FRIDAY – SEPT 16th
We hope that everyone can make the debut:
“BONE SHARPS, COWBOYS, AND THUNDER LIZARDS”
———– BOOK RELEASE PARTY————-
Friday, September 16, 2005, 4-7 pm
BIG BRAIN COMICS
1027 Washington Avenue South
Minneapolis, MN 55415
(add this to your blogs, Blackberrys, and events calendars)
Featuring special guest…flying in just for this party, GT Lab’s JIM OTTAVIANI!!!
The 168-page true science epic about two ruthless wild west paleontologists will be available for the first time anywhere, and Jim Ottaviani and Big Time Attic will be on hand to sign copies, tell tales, and show off the original art.
Bring in your dog-eared copies of “Two-Fisted Science” and “Suspended in Language” to get signed, or any of BTA’s individual books…or, hey, just come for the free beer and stand in the corner quietly until the beer runs out.
The Wild West provided the setting for some famous battles, but the gunfight at O.K. Corral doesn’t hold a candle to the Bone Wars. Following the Civil War, the (Re-)United States turned its attention to the unexplored territories between the Mississippi and the Pacific. The railroads led the way, and to build them we blasted through mountains and leveled valleys and exposed rock that hadn’t seen the light of day for millions of years. This is the story of Edwin Drinker Cope and Othniel Charles Marsh, two scientists who found and fought for those bones, and the artist Charles R. Knight who almost single-handedly brought dinosaurs back to life for an awestruck public. Guest starring Chief Red Cloud and hundreds of his Indian Braves, the gun-totin’ and gamblin’ Professor John Bell Hatcher, colossal and stupefying Dinosauria of the New World, and featuring special appearances by The Cardiff Giant, P.T. Barnum, Buffalo Bill Cody, Ulysses S. Grant, Alexander Graham Bell, and a plentiful supporting cast of Rogues and Gallants from the Eastern Scientific Establishment and The Old West, the colorful supporting cast makes for a rich blend of history, adventure, science, and art.
September Jam Page 2
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Jam Comics on the Blog
In an effort to liven up this blog a bit, I’m going to start posting jam comics frequently one page at a time before they go into the gallery… that’s right, you get to read them here first. Even though we haven’t posted the last few months of jam comics, I’m going to start with this month’s jam, since the main character is so compelling and charismatic. Today, I’m going to post two images, since the first one is a cover… this month had a total of 17 pages on the theme… hm, I wasn’t there for the theme, but I think I know what it was… click on the thumbnails to view the pages.
Cover:
Page 1:
I’ll post a new page every day or so… if you’re jonesing for more, our old jams are archived in the gallery (as these jams will be after I post the entire month on the blog).
The International Craft Conspiracy
Our crafty friends of the Cartoonist Conspiracy Anna Petosky and Julie Cannon (along with a number of other friends of theirs) have started The International Craft Conspiracy, where you can go to jam on quilts, build a macrame tarantula, design a dress out of phone books, or learn how to knit a cozy for your bong… and you can meet other similarly craft-enthused people to share your projects and passions with. You can find out more information about them on their website.
Photo: The loveliest sock monkey you ever saw, by Julie Cannon.
You’re invited to be a guest at FallCon 2005 October 8th and 9th
The Minnesota Comic Book Association (run by the extremely generous Nick Post of The Source Comics and Games) has invited all cartoonists to come to Fallcon 2005 October 8th and 9th and get some free table space to promote themselves and enjoy the convention. This sort of generosity is rare for a convention (generally you have to pay for a table at a con… they are around 800 clams at San Diego). It is especially rare for such a first rate convention… FallCon is the largest comic convention in the state of Minnesota and is always a blast to attend.
You can download a pdf I’ve posted for attending here. The pdf includes more info about the convention and has a form to send in to let them know if you’re attending. I’ve added an area to the form you can check if you want to request that you be seated near the conspiracy.
Once you fill out the form, send it to:
MN Comic Book Association
PO Box 131475
Saint Paul, MN 55113
While you’re at it, you’ll probably want to get added to the MCBA’s mailing list as well, which you can do on the left side of their home page.
“The MCBA is a non-profit, non-aligned, all volunteer association dedicated to promoting the comic book medium, comic book creators, publishers, comic book retailers, comic book media and the comic book genre as a whole and has successfully done so via the convention & special event format for over 16 years.”
THE YEAR LONG GRAPHIC NOVEL PROJECT
For those of you who participated in 24 Hour Comics Day, beyond the exhaustion you felt you were most likely excited and exhilirated at how much work you could get done in a limited amount of time. We’ve decided to embark on a project inspired by the 24 hour event that hopefully will bear even more exciting creative fruits.
We are starting THE YEAR LONG GRAPHIC NOVEL PROJECT.
THE GOAL: To complete a graphic novel in a year.
THE CHALLENGE: To complete a minimum of three finished pages of comics towards a larger work by the end of each month for a year. More than three pages is, of course, excellent.
THE RULES:
1) The end of the month is defined by the end of the new six hour monthly meetings at The Minnesota Center for Book Arts.
2) While the intent is certainly to produce a lot of pages in a limited time, it is also to produce a lot of high-quality work. Therefore, you can do as much work and planning outside of the meeting time as you want to. In fact, you can come to the meetings with your required number of pages (and as many more as you want) already completed.
3) You can start at any meeting… at this time these meetings are intended to be ongoing indefinitely. It should be noted that many people will probably start at the first meeting, so if you want a good race, this may be a good place to start.
4) If you do the bare minimum, you’ll have 36 completed pages at the end of the year… 36 pages completed is the shortest length that will be accepted as a successful year long graphic novel.
5) You are not required to tell one cohesive story to be considered a graphic novel. You could do all one page strips. There are absolutely no rules about content, other than that the content must be comics.
The Minnesota Center for Book Arts has generously offered some monthly space for Minneapolis area cartoonists to draw in. We will now be meeting on one Saturday a month to draw(this will replace the Sunday Funnies meetings… times will be listed on the Cartoonist Conspiracy website).
It should be noted that this is an open studio time for all cartoonists… you are not required to participate in the Year Long Graphic Novel Project to come and draw with us.
The first meeting will be July 16th 10AM-4PM in the MCBA Flexi Space (for those of you who were at the Spot On Festival, this is the room Big Time Attic had a table in, next room over from the space where we had part of the 24 Hour Event).
July 16th 10AM-4PM
The Minnesota Center for Book Arts
The Open Book Building (in the Flexi Space)
1011 Washington Ave S, Suite 100
Minneapolis, MN 55415
PHONE: 612-215-2520
3 Conspirators in new 24 Hour Comics Anthology
Congratulations to the brothers Cannon and Quillan Roe on their inclusion in the new 24 Hour Comics anthology… a total of 24 cartoonists are included in the anthology, chosen out of hundreds of entries from around the world. Great work fellas!
http://www.24hourcomics.com/blog/?p=285
“Kevin Cannon delves into adventure on the high seas (created at the Cartoonist Conspiracy event)”
“Quillan Roe brings a walk to the page (created at the Cartoonist Conspiracy event)”
“Zander Cannon, known for his work on Top Ten and The Replacement God, has an unusual take on the private eye (created at the Cartoonist Conspiracy event)”
Nat Gertler also notes on the blog:
“One interesting note: most of the selections were created by females. The traditional view of cartooning as a male-dominated interest is certainly being challenged by this new generation.”
We’ve also had a lot more women showing up at the Conspiracy meetings lately… this is a really great trend. It is nice to see that comics are no longer alienating half of the population.
“The book is slated to ship in October. If you saw last year’s book, the format is basically the same: 496 pages, conveniently sized (5.5″x7.75″) paperback, for $24.95.”
SPOT ON FESTIVAL THIS WEEKEND JUNE 11-12
The Spot On Fair is this weekend and it should be fun… It is part of the Spot On: The Art of Zines and Graphic Novels gallery show that has been there since April 9th (and has recieved some favorable reviews) Many conspirators are participating. There will be a conspiracy table (as well as tables for many other cartoonists and zine makers) where any conspirator can bring comics to sell, and we’ll attempt to manage it (Please put prices on the cover of anything you want to sell, and give us a sheet with the price of the books and the number of copies you’re leaving with us… we absolutely will not deal with your books if you do not do this, unless you talk us into it). We accept no responsibility for lost or stolen books.
This is also intended to be a trading festival, so regardless of whether you have something to sell, bring comics and zines to trade to people for their comics and zines.
Here is the schedule:
SPOT ON FAIR SCHEDULE
Saturday June 11 (10-5)
10-12 Family Day – Zines
Construct your own zine with Alec Mueller – comic artist and By Design graduate.
1-2:30 Craft of Cartooning: Tips and tricks from Cartoonists
Featuring:
Kirk Anderson
Ken Avidor
Andrey Feldysteyn
Shad Petosky
Andy Singer
3-4:30 Cartoonists and their influences
Featuring:
Ken Avidor
Andrey Feldysteyn
Steven Stwalley
Sunday June 12 (12-5)
1-2:30 Tom Cassidy
3-4:30 Mini-Comics: the Art of Making Comic Books by Hand
Featuring:
Bob Lipski
Doug McNamara
Danno Oschendorf
Quillan Roe
Shad Petosky and Rana Raeuchle will also be participating in some of the panels… I imagine some other folks may join in as well.
Thanks much to Big Brain Comics for donating the table for the Conspiracy… Big Brain, if you didn’t already know, is just a half a block away from the Minnesota Center for Book Arts, who is hosting the fair, and houses one of the most amazing masses of comic literature you’ll ever see in one place. Thanks also to Book Arts and Jeff Rathermel for concieving and organizing this event.
The Minnesota Center For Book Arts (MCBA)
(at the Open Book)
1011 Washington Ave. South
Suite 100, Minneapolis, MN 55415
www.openbookmn.org
www.mnbookarts.org
Hope to see you there!
Comics Disappearing in the City Pages?
I recently got the below email from Andy Singer…
Howdy strangers,
As you all may have noticed, City Pages got rid of its comics page two
weeks ago. The current issue has just ONE cartoon– “troubletown”– in
the entire issue (a very thick issue, I might add). One of the cartoons
they axed (temporarily?) is Kirk Anderson’s cartoon “Lance Boyle”. Since
City Pages is one of the last local cartoon markets (and Kirk is great)
I feel we should speak up. I wrote the letter to the editor below (and
got a response from the paper, saying they hope to reinstate some of the
cartoons on a more regular basis in the future). If you feel like
commenting, send your comments to–
letters at citypages.com (use the @ symbol for the “at”)
Peace,
Andy Singer
Subject: Lance Boyle, Maakies, comics???
Dear Editor,
Where are the comics? “Troubletown” seems to be the only one left! I
like this cartoon …but I also really liked Lance Boyle and the other
comics and I don’t see them in the paper. What happened? The Twin Cities
need more newspaper comics– particularly locally drawn ones. Instead,
there are fewer and fewer. Your rival “The Pulse” has stopped running
them entirely …and the Star Tribune and Pioneer Press each have just
one local cartoonist (…and the one in the Pioneer Press, David
Steinlicht, only appears once a week, if that).
I hope the absence of cartoons in City Pages is just temporary and that
you bring back some of the ones you’ve cut.
Andrew Singer